Expressivity and Musical Shape in Turntablism: Response to Greasley and Prior

This commentary to Greasley and Prior’s paper “Mixtapes and turntablism: DJs’ perspective on musical shape” extends the findings of the study by looking at the turntablism perspective. First, a general discussion on the study’s method and background is given. Then, the role of turntables as musical instruments in creating musical shape is outlined. Finally, some relationships between turntablism techniques, expressive performances and musical shape are presented. In general, the findings in the study support previously published studies in this insufficiently researched area

An early prototype of the augmented PsychoPhone

Abstract In this poster we present the early prototype of the augmented Psychophone -a saxophone with various applied sensors, allowing the saxophone player to attach effects like pitch shifting, wah-wah and ring modulation to the saxophone, simply by moving the saxophone as one would do when really being enthusiastic and involved in the performance. The possibility of scratching on the previously recorded sound is also possible directly on the saxophone. Keywords: Augmented saxophone, Physical computing, hyper instruments, mapping. Introduction In this poster we present the early prototype of an augmented saxophone, aiming to emphasize the effect of the natural gestures of the saxophone player, as well as transform the saxophone into a multi instrument and sequencer. The aim of this project was to create an early prototype of an augmented saxophone with a predefined mapping system. One of the most important motivations behind the design of the mapping system, was to do an attempt to copy the most vivid gestures of an average expressive saxophone player, and attach a relevant effect to the most noticeable expressive movements. An example of this could be when a saxophonist is tilting the saxophone up in the air in the middle of a solo. This is often done when the player is blowing extraordinary hard, playing a very high pitch, or when expressing himself in a more aggressive manner. Another important motivation for this project was to implement an interface allowing the saxophone to be the sole instrument on the stage -playing and controlling all the different aspects of a musical performance -instead of being a simple wind instrument. Applied sound effects Four different effect were applied to the saxophone. These effect were chosen in an attempt to make four very audible different effects. 2.1 A wah-wah bandpass filter effect The wah-wah effect is very successful for playing rhythmic and almost percussive phrases on the saxophone. 2.2 A ring modulation effect In order to implement a distorted bold saxophone solo sound, a ring modulation effect has been employed. 2.3 A pitch shifter effect In order to play bass-like, low-frequency sounds, a pitch shifter was used -only passing the lower octave of the original sound. 2.4 Scratching on the recorded sound As a last effect, it was decided to implement the possibility to scratch on a recorded sound. This would give the user a very percussive and rhythmic sound to play with

Mixtapes and Turntablism: DJs’ Perspectives on Musical Shape

The notion of musical shape is widely used by performing musicians, but most studies have focussed on classical performing contexts. This paper extends this research to DJs performing on turntables, chosen in light of existing evidence from a questionnaire study suggesting that shape may be a useful concept for some DJs. This paper presents an interview study investigating the use and understanding of musical shaping by three professional DJs with varied backgrounds. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings suggest that DJs do use the notion of shape implicitly when planning and executing their sets, and that playing sets without any shaping involves playing the music badly. DJs reported using the idea of shaping to modify a track while it was playing; to help control the transition between tracks; and in relation to the overall trajectory of a set. There was evidence that participants understood musical shaping multi-modally, through gesture and visual representation as well as sound; and results show ways in which DJs draw on heuristics to signify complex combinations of technical devices that create a particular musical shape or sound. The findings are considered in relation to existing work on performers’ use of musical shape as well as work on the practice of DJs

DJ TOOL: a mobile phone audio player application

Since listening to music using mobile phones has become a normal situation, companies have started to think about developing new tools within the music field. Thereby, one of the fields in what they are working on is to enable users to put effects on their music while listening to it. One of the most popular techniques for manipulating recorded sounds is scratching. To scratch is just a variation in speed and direction of a sound file. These techniques are the presentation card of DJs, who implement them using a turntable and an audio mixer. The purpose of this project is to design and implement a system which enables users to use their handset for manipulating the sound by using different tools, being one of them adding DJ scratching sounds on top of their music while listening to it from their mobile phones. The application is developed by using Python, and designed to be used on Nokia mobile phones

Identifying functional populations among the interneurons in laminae I-III of the spinal dorsal horn

The spinal dorsal horn receives input from primary afferent axons, which terminate in a modality-specific fashion in different laminae. The incoming somatosensory information is processed through complex synaptic circuits involving excitatory and inhibitory interneurons, before being transmitted to the brain via projection neurons for conscious perception. The dorsal horn is important, firstly because changes in this region contribute to chronic pain states, and secondly because it contains potential targets for the development of new treatments for pain. However, at present, we have only a limited understanding of the neuronal circuitry within this region, and this is largely because of the difficulty in defining functional populations among the excitatory and inhibitory interneurons. The recent discovery of specific neurochemically defined interneuron populations, together with the development of molecular genetic techniques for altering neuronal function in vivo, are resulting in a dramatic improvement in our understanding of somatosensory processing at the spinal level

Scratching the surface : bacterial cell envelopes at the nanoscale

The bacterial cell envelope is essential for viability, the environmental gatekeeper and first line of defense against external stresses. For most bacteria, the envelope biosynthesis is also the site of action of some of the most important groups of antibiotics. It is a complex, often multicomponent structure, able to withstand the internally generated turgor pressure. Thus, elucidating the architecture and dynamics of the cell envelope is important, to unravel not only the complexities of cell morphology and maintenance of integrity but also how interventions such as antibiotics lead to death. To address these questions requires the capacity to visualize the cell envelope in situ via high-spatial resolution approaches. In recent years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has brought novel molecular insights into the assembly, dynamics, and functions of bacterial cell envelopes. The ultrafine resolution and physical sensitivity of the technique have revealed a wealth of ultrastructural features that are invisible to traditional optical microscopy techniques or imperceptible in their true physiological state by electron microscopy. Here, we discuss recent progress in our use of AFM imaging for understanding the architecture and dynamics of the bacterial envelope. We survey recent studies that demonstrate the power of the technique to observe isolated membranes and live cells at (sub)nanometer resolution and under physiological conditions and to track in vitro structural dynamics in response to growth or to drugs

Rolling sound synthesis : work in progress

International audienceThis paper presents a physically informed rolling sound synthesis model for the MetaSon synthesis platform. The aim of this sound synthesis platform will be shortly described. As shown in the state of the art, both in terms of sound effects and proposed controls, existing models can be improved. Some details on asymmetric rolling objects will be given and the sound synthesis model will be exposed. Perspectives for further studies and work in progress will be discussed

Sample magic: (Conjuring) phonographic ghosts and meta-illusions in contemporary hip-hop production

Sampling has been criticised as “a mixture of time-travel and seance”, “the musical art of ghost co-ordination and ghost arrangement”, and a process that “doubles (recording’s) inherent supernaturalism” (Reynolds 2012, pp. 313-314). Yet out of all the sample-based music forms, hip-hop receives the lion’s share of attention in popular music literature; critics are puzzled by its appeal, scholars identify a plethora of problems in its function, and practitioners and audiences alike are mesmerised by its effect. Rap producers attribute an inherent ‘magic’ to working with past phonographic samples and fans appear spellbound by the resulting ‘supernatural’ collage. The author examines the music’s unique recipe of phonographic juxtaposition, exploring the conditions of this ascribed ‘magic’, investigating gaps in perception (Lehrer 2009) between emotional and intellectual effect, and deciphering parallels in the practice and vocabulary mobilised against a range of genres in performance magic